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Wednesday, November 25, 2015

A Closer Look at the Gygax Memorial Fund - Looking for Questions to Ask Gail Gygax in Regards

Gail Gygax has taken an interest in my previous post (you can read her comments over at Facebook.) I told her I'd have questions to ask her about the Gygax Memorial Fund. She stated she's "looking forward" to the post in question.

So, I'm throwing a net far and wide in search of questions to ask Gail Gygax with the intention of posting / asking on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

Simple rule - the questions must pertain to the Gygax Memorial Fund. Questions about trademarks, family, Gygax magazine and TSR, Gary's old properties like Lejendary Adventures and Castles & Crusades work that he did and wasn't released and the like are for another day.

17 comments:

1) What is the current asset total of the Memorial Fund?2) What, if any, legal expenses have been incurred by the fund?3) What is the current state of the project. It had been announced as "ready to move ahead quite some time ago"?4) What is the current list of the Web and Publicity teams (as at least one listed person has stated no official linkage to the project)?5) How much money has the Memorial Fund spent on things not directly relating to the creation of the memorial (salaries, litigation, auto expenses, etc)?6) What is the hard-line number needed to make the monument a reality?6b) How far is the fund from achieving that number?

I'm sure I'll have others that spring to mind but this is my starting point.

1. Where are the official filings for all years from 2012 to present. 2. Will there be a statue or is there more planned? if more is planned what is the cost and timeline associated with that additional work.

3. Who is contracted at this time to designing and creating of the monument? Examples of past works? Website or URL?

4. What are the total number of contributors to the fund aggregated over time since inception to current. Year by year growth or decline?

5. Who, if any, will be replacing the Gygax brothers on the Board as it pertains to the memorial work (If this is out of scope feel free to ignore).

6. Who is running the Project, what is their experience and ability to produce results?

Who are Mike and Diane Curtis and what relation do they have to gaming since they have replaced the other original directors (including James M Ward)?

While 5 hours a week, as reported on the tax returns, may not seem like much, time, that is still 260 hours a year or 6.5 full work weeks. In that time per year, what HAS been accomplished versus what has not?

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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (thank you Kickstarter) (edit) BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and will soon have some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep shipping shortly in my grubby hands awaiting a review..

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls (and still waiting on dT&T to ship).

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 48, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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